Three Palestinian rioters were reportedly killed along the Israel-Gaza Strip border on Friday.

Some 41 rioters have died since a wave of Hamas-orchestrated border disturbances began on March 30.

The Israeli military said 10,000 Gazans participated in Friday’s riots, and that some had tried to breach the border fence. It said troops “had operated in accordance with the rules of engagement” to stop people crossing the border.

Rioters hurled stones and rolled burning tires toward the fence, and some attached cans of burning petrol to kites and flew them into Israeli territory.

Others cleared away barbed wire coils which Israeli troops had placed in Gazan territory overnight in a bid to create a buffer zone between rioters and the fence.